Prior to this invention various proposals have been made for converting bicycles and motorcycles into amphibious vehicles for both water and land travel. Representative teachings of such proposals are found in U.S. Pat. No. 3,359,937 which issued on Dec. 26, 1967, U.S. Pat. No. 3,848,560 which issued on Nov. 19, 1974, U.S. Pat. No. 4,092,945 which issued on June 6, 1978, U.S. Pat. No. 3,215,114 which issued on Nov. 2, 1965 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,954,079 which issued on May 4, 1976.
In general the amphibious constructions described in the foregoing patents involve the addition of outboard floatation devices to the cycle such as water skis, tanks or pontoons to make the vehicle floatable on water. Pontoon floatation devices of the type shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,215,114 seriously impair the maneuverability of the vehicle as well as making the vehicle bulky and heavy. Outboard floatation devices, such as that shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,848,560, do not afford sufficient stability for safely crossing relatively wide, rough rivers or similar bodies of water, thus restricting the use of the amphibious vehicle in water travel.
In addition to the foregoing, floatation devices such as the one described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,359,937 inconveniently require adjustment to floatation positions before entering the water for water travel and then require readjustment back to stowed positions for land travel. Finally, a driver of the amphibious vehicles described in the foregoing patents unavoidably becomes wet during water travel, thus requiring him to dress accordingly.
The present invention has none of the foregoing drawbacks and offers additional advantages as will become apparent from the following summary and detailed description.